Whether or not the feelings of friendship or comraderie are sincere is irrelevant

Oh, I agree with you there. I don't agree with the perspective that PR people are like strippers only using us for our wallets (or in this case: our audiences), and I think that plenty of people who work in PR are genuine human beings who just want to be friends because friendships are lovely. It's still something for people like me to be aware of as we do our jobs.

And it's not just PR people - we the press have to constantly be aware of the influence from our relationships with anyone who works for game companies. This is all nothing new.